Published: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 5:50 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 5:50 p.m.

Two strangers are paying for classroom supplies for Danielle Pitts, teacher at Tuttle Elementary who has been working three jobs to make ends meet. Pitts had been spending $60 of her own money each month on the supplies.

A Sarasota financial planner, who read about Pitts' struggles, offered to sponsor her class.

The Tuttle Elementary teacher was “shocked.”

“My first thought was it was a random act of kindness,” Pitts said. “It was just totally unexpected. I don't think he even realized how much it meant to myself and my kids. My students were jumping up and down going crazy about it.”

It was an outpouring of support for Pitts, who was featured in a Herald-Tribune story about a growing number of Sarasota County teachers who moonlight to make ends meet. Pitts, 30, juggles teaching elementary students on top of waitressing and running an after-school tutoring program.

Her story resonated with two strangers, who were bothered that she spent $60 of her own money each month on classroom supplies.

Teachers hired before Sept. 1, 2012 get $178 to spend from the state, according to district spokesman Scott Ferguson.

But at Tuttle, about 85 percent of the students receive free or reduced lunches. Many come empty-handed with no school supplies, so the money runs out quickly, Pitts said.

The financial planner sent $220 and pledged to donate more to Pitts' class next school year.

Another stranger, a retired Manatee County teacher, sent $60 to cover a month's expense.

Pitts used some of the money to stock up her classroom with scissors, glue, pencils and other supplies.

Some students celebrated with a pizza party for their good behavior while others drank juice boxes and ate popcorn to mark the end of the dreaded Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. They wrote thank you cards to the man and his wife.

“I was in shock and crying,” Pitts said, after she received the good news last month. “I had never expected anyone to be that generous. He has never met me.”

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